David Hiltbrand

Inquirer TV Critic

Don’t call it a roast. Tonight’s Eddie Murphy: One Night Only on Spike (10 p.m.) is a star-studded tribute to Gumby, damn it!

Sorry. Got carried away. But so does everyone else in this special, hosted by Jamie Foxx and featuring the Roots as house band. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Tracy Morgan in an extremely loose-fitting facsimile of the red-leather suit Murphy wore in his epic 1983 stand-up film Delirious.

Presenting clips from his time at Saturday Night Live and his long film career, including 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop and the Philly-based Trading Places are luminaries like Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Martin Lawrence and Murphy’s older brother, Charlie.

Perhaps the highlight is a musical moment, when Stevie Wonder – whom Eddie famously imitated – coaxes the honoree up on stage for a memorable duet on “Higher Ground”. World, keep on turning.